Hourglass Meadow
The Hourglass Meadow is a location inside the residence of The Great Runas that appears in Temptation Stairway.
Description
The Hourglass Meadow is an open, low-poly field consisting of green, purple, and light yellow colored hills and clouds. Scattered throughout the field are empty hourglasses, similar to the ones in which the Hourglass Dog is contained, and some lying Mannequins. A small Holy code river also flows through the field. Beyond some of the meadow's hills is a greenhouse shaped like an upward-reaching human that acts as a conservatory for flying Hourglass Dogs. The Dog Conservatory[1] houses multicolored flowers with grinning faces and a tank containing The Shepherd. Behind the Dog Conservatory is a small beach with an ocean of Holy code.
Story
Ena falls into the meadow after entering the Holy code. Upon looking around, she spots a human-shaped greenhouse in the distance and walks towards it, passing fallen Mannequins on the way. Inside the Dog Conservatory are Hourglass Dogs floating about, who are under the watchful eye of The Shepherd, a character whom Ena meets on her journey. Here, The Shepherd tells Ena to leave because The Great Runas is no longer giving out horoscopes. However, Ena asks if she can have private time with Runas, to which The Shepherd disagrees and hits her, but later lets her through after being gifted the Turrón. Upon continuing through, Ena jumps into the Holy code ocean behind the Dog Conservatory.
Gallery
Concepts of different areas including the Mannequin Expanse, Hourglass Meadow, the Desert, and the Dead God Graveyard.
Concept art of the Hourglass Meadow originally exclusive to Joel's Patreon. Publicly revealed in a Twitch stream.
Top view of the Hourglass Meadow section Ena travels through.
Concept artwork of The Shepherd's Dog Conservatory. Used for the cover of "Hourglass Meadow" on Oliver Buckland's SoundCloud.
Trivia
- While walking through the meadow, Ena's vision starts to glitch, especially when she is about to jump into the Holy code.
Cultural references and inspirations
- The humanoid shape of the Dog Conservatory strongly resembles the Fountain of Eternal Life statue in Cleveland, Ohio. This is likely due to the statue representing the spirit of man rising above the destructive elements of the world, reaching above death and towards their God, befitting of the other religious references in Temptation Stairway.
- The flower beds inside the Hourglass Meadow's Dog Conservatory are based on large tulip flower beds grown in Holland, which also usually have matching colors (orange, green, yellow, red, and brown).
- The Hourglass Meadow's appearance appears to be inspired by the landscape in the Talons game found in the TempleOS operating system. This is much more noticeable in the area's concept art, which depicts trees that are absent in its final design and a simpler ground design.